Simon Baptist is Editorial Director and Chief Economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit. Prior to his current role, he has held a number of other senior management and editorial positions in the business, including Managing Director for Asia, Regional Director of our Asia editorial team, Director of Global Forecasting, and Consulting Director in both Europe and Asia

Simon’s focus is on the global economy, national and international political developments, and public policy. He engages with business, government and international organisations, helping them to understand the operational and strategic implications of the EIU’s forecasts.

He has a doctorate in economics from and was a lecturer at Oxford University, along with degrees in economics and science from the University of Tasmania. His academic research investigated technology and the determinants of productivity in manufacturing firms.

On November 16, 2018, Dr. Stephan Wöllenstein was appointed CEO of Volkswagen Group China, effective mid-January, 2019. He has been appointed to Member of the Board of Management, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand effective February 1, 2019. His leadership at Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand for China and all associated activities remain unchanged.

Since August 2016, Dr. Stephan Wöllenstein has served as CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand for China and Executive Vice President at Volkswagen (China) Investment Co. Ltd.

Wöllenstein joined Volkswagen in 1995 and has gained rich experience across branding, sales, marketing and product management at a strategic level.

From 2012 to 2016, Wöllenstein served as Executive Vice President at FAW-Volkswagen and Managing Director of the Volkswagen brand at FAW-Volkswagen.

From 2007 to 2012, he held multiple positions in business development and product management at Volkswagen AG in Germany.

From 2004 to 2007, Wöllenstein served as Executive Director Sales & Marketing for SAIC Volkswagen, and Deputy Managing Director of SAIC-Volkswagen Sales Company. This was followed by a 4-month stint at Volkswagen Group China as Vice President Sales & Marketing for the Volkswagen brand, to design and implement a new country strategy.

From 1995 to 2003, Wöllenstein took on management roles in marketing and sales in Volkswagen brand in European regions.

In 1988, Wöllenstein graduated in economics and business administration from the Universities of Wuppertal and Münster. From 1989 to 1994, he worked as an assistant professor at the Westfälische Wilhelms University in Münster. As he obtained his PhD, he undertook marketing projects in the automotive, retail and travel industries.

Cyril has over 35 years of global work experience crossing North America, Europe and Asia and as a senior manager working through different industries. He is passionate for leadership development and is a certified executive coach. He believes in “making a difference” in every engagement and to everyone he has the fortunate opportunity to work with.

Cyril is currently the country head - China region for FLSmidth A/S. FLSmidth supplies the minerals and cement industries globally with everything from engineering, single machines and complete processing plants to maintenance, support services and operation of processing facilities.

Prior to that, Cyril was Weir PLC’s first China Managing Director where he built the company into a cohesive force with vision and clear targets, driving growth >100% over two years. Weir provides engineering solutions for Mining, Oil &Gas and Fossil &Nuclear Power Generation.

His green field start up experience including IDEX as their Managing Director Suzhou plants, IDEX a US-listed company in fluid machinery industry; Navion Softrware Development as their General Manager. Navion was in the development of proprietary financial software and a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital One Inc. Navion was recognized as 10th Best Employer in Asia & 6th Best Employer in China in 2001 during his tenure.

Cyril joined IBM in Canada after graduation in various technical and management positions to the position of General Manager of IBM ETC (Shanghai) Ltd prior to his departure after 21 years of service.

Cyril is also very active in community activities and held various positions including Director in Foreign Investment Association, Huangpu District, Shanghai; Director of Shanghai Software Industry Association; Vice President, Board of director, Concordia International School, Shanghai and membership with the American, Canadian and Danish Chamber of Commerce.

Cyril received his BS degree in Engineering from University of Western Ontario, Canada and his MBA from Rutgers University, USA.

Cyril lives with his family in Shanghai and has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Qingdao. He is fluent in English and Chinese (Putonghua and Cantonese).

Dan Hui is the Managing Director of MediaCom Beijing & Guangzhou with over 15 years of experience. She has worked across multiple client categories including FMCG, Pharmaceutical, technology, entertainment, finance, and travel. 

Since joining MediaCom, Dan Hui has been a key contributor to the success and growth of MediaCom China, and has a proven track record of developing high performing teams, and strong client partnerships. The work has been recognised in many areas with her team, especially in data, content, and creativity, and won multiple awards for her ground-breaking work. She became a key member of the China leadership team , continually drive clients’ future growth with her professional and business capabilities .

Being Managing Director, Novelis China, Mr. James Liu has been leading Novelis’ expansion plans in China in alignment with our long-term growth strategy for Asia. Meanwhile, he is also grasping every opportunity to make the best use for the significant growth of Novelis business in auto industry. Mr. James Liu oversaw the construction of China’s 1st automotive sheet manufacturing facility. He has been sparing no effort to promote aluminum application to achieve vehicle lightweighting. This has been very helpful to boost the green development and emission reduction, making it possible for aluminum to be widely used on lighter vehicles in China. With Novelis’ acquisition of Aleris in April 2020, Mr. James Liu extended his role to oversee the aerospace business in Asia and future strategic expansion project including the Aleris Zhenjiang plant.

Mr. James Liu has rich experience in steel and aluminum industries. Prior to join Novelis, Mr. James Liu served as Vice President and Managing Director, Alcoa International (Asia) Limited for four years. Before that, Mr. James Liu was President for Lysaght China under BHP STEEL in charge of its operation in Mainland China.

Mr. James Liu holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Tsinghua University, a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Shanghai JiaoTong University in Shanghai, China, and an Executive MBA from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Novelis (China) Aluminum Products Co., Ltd was listed as Top 50 auto parts supplier for China’s automobile manufacturers thanks to its contributions to promoting the lightweighting development locally. In the meantime, Mr. James Liu was honored as Top 10 Leader of China’s auto parts supplier and Honorary Citizen of Changzhou by Changzhou Municipal Government in Sep 2013. In 2018, Mr. James Liu has been conferred the Medal of Honor at May Day Awards in Jiangsu Province to recognize his outstanding contribution. Recently Mr. James Liu was awarded “2019 China Auto Industry Innovation Leading Figure” by Automobile & Parts Magazine.

- Profile: Spanish national, lawyer by training, specialised in EU law.

- Work experience: Joined the EU in 1998, held various positions in the European Commission working on competition, research & development and in the cabinets of two EU Commissioners before moving to trade. Worked on trade since 2012, on strategy first and then leading the China desk of DG Trade in Brussels (in charge of coordinating EU trade & investment relations with China). Head of Trade Section at the EU Office to Hong Kong and Macao (20 August 2018 to 31 August 2020), Head of Trade in Beijing since September 2020.

- Languages: Spanish, English, French, German

Mattie Bekink is responsible for the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network’s China strategy, including programme development and client servicing across China. She also provides support to all Economist Intelligence Corporate Network programmes worldwide with a China component.

Ms Bekink has extensive experience in the public, private and policy sectors. Prior to joining The Economist Group, she was the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in the Netherlands. She also ran an eponymous consulting business, advising senior executives from businesses, universities and non-profit organisations on China policy, strategy, public affairs, and corporate social responsibility. Ms Bekink practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, has worked with the US-Asia Law Initiative at NYU Law School and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program, and served in the legal department at General Motors China.

Ms Bekink has a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.